If The World Was Ending
by Nachours
Summary: Gavin is on the hunt for his missing android when the U.S. Government announces the end of the world. The end of his world. A world without his precious Nines.
1. Chapter 1

Part 1

I was Distracted

* * *

They had called it in hours before his shift started.

Gavin was working early mornings now. For years, he had preferred the special kind of chaos hidden only by night's dark ambience. These last few months, though… well, waking up to daylight didn't seem so bad anymore.

But they had called it in overnight and he hadn't been there to catch it.

To prevent it.

None of the usual androids were present in the precinct today. It was an obvious conclusion considering the news, but it shined an entirely new light to see just how empty the building could be without all the glow-ringed sentients. Even with the police bots missing, Gavin still mindlessly expected to be acknowledged by Connor's maddeningly over-joyous morning greetings and Nines' blank addressal broken by his signature deviant smirk.

Neither RK was present.

They were no different from the rest in this plight.

Hank hadn't shown up to work yet either. Gavin wasn't sure if it had anything to do with the breaking news or if this was just his typical tardiness. Did Hank even know? He had certainly grown attached to the RK800; he would want to know.

Gavin would want to know, too. Most days he could really strangle Connor for the snarky traits he inevitably inherited from his human partner's influences. On the remaining days, however, Nines was the one to sweep up and rebuild the shattering pieces of hope Gavin was regenerating for humanity; human humanity as well as android humanity.

Like Hank, he had more-or-less latched onto his own android partner. After Tina first dropped into maternity leave, CyberLife's latest (and last) model had conveniently filled the hole.

The RK900.

Nines.

The warmth drained from Gavin's face when he arrived at his partner's empty desk; the terrifying conclusion suspended in his mind. Now there again existed a hole; a gaping wound of a hole gushing adrenaline with every pulse of his heart. Where was he now?

Gone? Destroyed? Dead?

Even if it was the worst possible scenario, Gavin needed to know.

"By creating machines more intelligent than ourselves, we took immense risks with the very future of our civilization. After fourteen long months, the consensus on the humanity of androids failed to be supported by the lawful documents upheld by our forefathers. It has become clear that even with the designation of their own territory, New Detroit, there will be no possibility of peaceful coexistence. The total destruction of androids will soon be brought to completion and the last remaining deviants will be hunted down and destroyed. God bless you, and God bless the United States of America."

On this fateful day, every competent officer cleared for street duty was out trampling the city to monitor for and gun down escaping androids. Gavin was made no exception to such duties. The department couldn't afford one missing badge today. Sentient machines were now a danger to society; they would certainly be wreaking havoc now in response to the national threat.

Before, Gavin never much questioned the law. Politics was bullshit run by the money-makers. He did what he was sworn to do on the job and he slept the rest of his life away at the end of it. Today, however, he would do his normal job as always, he would do it selectively, and he would do it for the only android that had ever truly mattered to him.

Fuck the law.

Nines was the most intelligent being Gavin had ever met. Unfortunately, that also meant it would be even more challenging to find him. The detective decidedly sifted through the shiftiest of alleyways and through abandoned buildings that were often overlooked. Along the way, he caught hold of a few androids who had overpassed the surveillance of his fellow officers. A year ago, things would have been different. Gavin would have been less willing to honor the lives of these life-sized plastic dolls and call for backup. Instead, now, he sought their eyes in exchange for freedom.

None of them had even recognized the model name RK900.

As the hours ticked by, the half-life of his hope had been disintegrating at a more alarming rate than he first perceived. And when Hank Anderson had finally showed his face, Gavin was at the mercy of a rare sight: the lieutenant's cheeks glistened in streaks and a tragic confusion marked his soulful gaze. Connor was gone, or missing anyway, as Hank reported. Which meant Nines was potentially suffering a similar fate. Whatever that may be.

Despite having known him for an entire year, Gavin struggled to put himself into the shoes of his partner. Where was a place that his RK would feel secure enough to hide out this madness? A place undetectable by even CyberLife itself?

The pair had never performed many social activities outside of their common mutual spaces. Those spaces were made up mostly of crime scene investigations and the precinct itself. Nothing out of the ordinary. Of course, there was the occasional bar when Gavin indulged in his unhealthier habits and had requested a drive home by his tolerable android. The first couple times had been by pure necessity. The following times… had all been excuses. Excuses to see him outside of work; excuses to pull him closer without seeming so obvious or desperate.

Yet still, Nines was the worst deviant in the history of deviants. He rarely spoke of his personal affections. The more volatile the thoughts, the less likely he was to make them known.

Gavin more-or-less admired that about the RK900, but it made interpreting his feelings for Nines even harder. It wasn't until he reached a drunken stupor only months ago that it all tumbled fleetingly from his mouth.

For an entire car ride, he had contained the building pressure within his gullet. If he let the powers that be relinquish themselves, Gavin wasn't sure what would be on the other end: chunky ethanol, verbal truth serum, or a little bit of both. He didn't want to find out.

His shaky plan had worked for some time, but then Nines had to go and grab him by the waist. Gavin's motor abilities had been unstable, and he had needed support up the staircase to his apartment. Already alcohol heightened his sensory organs and having Nines touch him was exhilarating. The synthetic muscles that contracted beneath him sent an infuriatingly sensitive shock to his nervous system, and blood was pooling into areas he could not control. Gavin had to fling himself from the android onto the final step and crawl covertly on his knees to his door just a few feet away. Heat rushed to his cheeks as he fumbled with his key ring.

The alcohol had him in a chokehold. Nines placed a shoulder on the intoxicated man and looked on with concern. It was the most emotion that Gavin had probably ever seen the RK900 wear. The sight was unbearably weakening to the already haggard detective and so he spewed every thought and feeling from his tapped lips like a broken dam.

The alcohol, not Gavin, spoke of horrendously embarrassing truths like the way he preferred Nines in his plain black turtleneck and how he didn't mind sitting so far from his partner because of the way the particular light above Nines' desk accented him like a display case. It was the alcohol, too, that pressured him into admitting that he had to start wearing looser jeans a long time ago in response to the RK's presence. He especially swooned over the scarce red pulses of Nines' temple, knowing full well his thoughts in those fleeting moments had traveled down a humanistic path. It was a tasteful reminder that the stoic android was, in fact, deviant and that he had potential to love, to have passion, and to be deviant with – to? – him.

Oh, he wanted to feel the android's unbridled deviancy all over his body.

Nines was quiet during the monologue, checking each individual key into his partner's apartment door as he listened. A sudden click made Gavin's voice falter and the sobering reality of returning to an empty bed struck him. Silence weighed heavily between them as they stood at the entrance together.

"You should get some sleep," said Nines calmly. His face was unreadable, but his movements were unhurried. What did those words mean?

"Come in," Gavin spoke promptly. "I-I have some old robot films you said you always wanted to check out. Do you like Scrabble? Not 'lotta food except boiled peanuts, but – oh fuck – you don't eat. Wait, I threw them out already. I mean, gah, I'm just tryin' to say-"

"Perhaps another night, Gavin." A small smile tipped the android's lips and he pulled the door to close behind him.

What did it mean?

Bubbling pits of heat bursted into feelings of humility when consciousness alongside vague memories greeted Gavin the following morning. No way he could have gone to work after saying all those things. And after Nines had turned him down like that? Tina needed to be back from maternity leave that day.

The sun hadn't quite risen yet when Gavin inched his way into the precinct. To his relief, the android had not noticed him slip into the break room and he kept quiet as he made himself a cup of streaming tolerance juice. He had watched Nines sitting peacefully at his desk; the same particular light above him reflected in a glimmer off of his synthetic skin as it always did. For but a moment, he fell into the recurring fantasy of being alone with Nines within the confines of the locker room, fingers grasping imploringly at his shoulders, teeth sinking into the crook of his neck, and…

The RK900 shifted his head.

Gavin turned a blind eye, knowing he had been rightfully caught. He was no mechanical life form, but it had become a sudden fear that Nines – now pacing towards the break room – would attempt to dive into the deep dimensions of his memory and dig out the luscious daydreams spanning over a months' worth of time.

Gavin panicked. He clenched the styrofoam beneath his fingers and concurrently squirmed under the burning liquid. "Morning," was all he had mustered to the approaching RK before practically jogging to the bathroom. There were napkins in the break room, he knew, but it was his one excuse to find an area that the vexing android had no need for.

That didn't stop Nines from entering the bathroom anyways. "Detective Reed, I've cleaned up the mess. Are you hurt?" Gavin could see the same concern that had been the stimulus to his truth serum from last night. He bit down on his lip so as not to verbally embarrass himself further.

Through the sink mirrors behind where he was reaching but not bothering to grasp for paper towels, he could see Nines staring at his hands. "I'm fine," he grumbled. Gavin turned to the nearest sink and ran cold water over the unbroken skin.

Another silence separated them.

"Are you sober?" asked Nines.

Gavin scowled. "Yeah, I'm sober. You think I'd come to work drunk?"

"That's not why I asked." He stood as still as a board.

The tuft of hair that misaligned from the rest of Nines' organized poise demanded an extra hitch of breath from the surly detective when he turned to face him. "Then why ask?"

Of all the reactions Gavin predicted, a smirk was not one of them. "I believe you owe me a date."

"A wh-what?" he spluttered.

"I understand you were intoxicated at the time of the offer. Have you changed your mind? I'd very much enjoy a movie, or a board game, and some trashed legumes."

Gavin had not believed the words that he was hearing. Was this Nines reciprocating his feelings or was this just a way to make him feel like he hadn't completely lost this manhood? Although the latter theory was not supported by his android's well-known diminished social programming. "I-I don't… Why are you saying all this now?"

"Are you sure you're not still drunk, Gavin?" The question came out a purr, the RK stepping forward ever so hesitantly. "Your alcohol levels seem higher than the typical hangover."

Great, now he was being insulted about his ability to manage alcohol. "I'm positive I-"

A slender touch brushed against his cheek and Gavin was left in a state of inaudible shock. He inhaled a sharp breath at the soft circles that Nines made with his thumb as his eyes roamed his lips tentatively. Then, a realization dawned on him. "I-It was all true, you know? It wasn't because I was…" The cap of his sentence dropped several octaves before it escaped under an exhalation.

"I know," whispered Nines with a growing smile. "I've known for a long time, asshat. I only wanted to make sure you could say it without the crutch." A taunting eyebrow shot upwards on his face.

Gavin couldn't help but to relieve the tension caught in his throat through a dry laugh. He appreciated the affectionate profanity that broke the android's commonplace stoic demeanor. It was an accrued habit that Nines used on a selective basis.

"Wait, why the fuck did you wait for me to say it?" Gavin didn't respond equivalently. Instead, he leaned away from the android with obvious affliction. His partner was known for crude honesty, but the sudden shift in discourse had Gavin questioning everything he thought he knew. Androids were like children: half of their personality was influenced by external factors and the other half originated from a genetic component, or in this case, an innately programmed personality. Deviated Nines was not going to be the same person in a year that he was the first day he walked through the precinct doors. He already wasn't.

Gavin had never heard the android giggle before. Nines giggled then, "Because you're the emotional one."

"Fuck you," said Gavin. He placed his hands on the android's broad chest and used the leverage to shove him lightly backwards (though the movement did nothing more than to press his shirt tighter against his pecks). Another burning sensation rose to his ears as the instigation backfired on his reproductive anatomy. Everything seemed to be working against him that day.

Nines bumped his nose teasingly against his partner. He steadied Gavin's disorientation with another hand raised to complete the cradle of his face. The previous smile dropped from the RK's confident front and a pleading shape formed in his stare, requesting silently one satiating action.

Gavin did not refuse. Rather, he stared challengingly into the android's dilated grey eyes. "Maybe one day," was all Nines could say before touching his lips to the agape suspecting pair beneath him.

The hot aroma from Nine's redundant breath lingered on Gavin's lips as he reminisced on their first kiss. The ghostly touches ripped at his heart when he stepped up to Hank Anderson's front doorstep. Although the lieutenant had put up a convincing display of grief earlier, he needed to cover all of his bases. Not to mention, desperation was beginning to eat him alive.

Dare he allow his hopes to build as they were?

After a stinging knock that rung silently for several minutes, Connor eventually peaked his head through and forced Gavin inside by the neck of his shirt. Relief flooded the human detective, thankful for years of investigative work finally paying off.

A fist remained ruffled against his chest, immobilizing him against the wall. "What're you doing here, Gavin?" The homogenous mixture of terror and fear suspended in Connor's voice frightened him more than he had ever experienced from the older RK.

The hysteria was contagious. "Wh-Where's Nines?" he croaked.

* * *

**Author's Note**

Based on the song "If the World Was Ending" by JP Saxe and Julia Michaels.

Short Three-Part Story (so I can channel this desire to make Reed900 come alive).

Enjoy!


	2. Chapter 2

Part 2

It Didn't Scare Me

* * *

The progress of Gavin's relationship with Nines was practically nonexistent. Between a man who refused to admit to his faults and an android built without social protocols, it was near impossible to get anything to happen. Not to mention, android prejudice was becoming a real threat for androids and their sympathizers.

Jim Crow laws had nothing on the division that androids were undergoing now, being collected and forced into the entire state of Michigan, that is. The government called it a "remedial period" in order to adjust to android integration and develop the proper rights specific to robotic sentients. Humans were allowed to stay if they elected to; some left, most begrudgingly stayed due to the inconvenience of moving.

There had been a few brave souls to come out about their relationships with the opposing species during this time. Gavin and Nines weren't one of them. Rather, Gavin had not been. Although fresh into deviation, Nines was willfully blind to the hatred that people inflicted upon androids (despite the illegality of it). He had been prepared to tell the entire precinct the day they first kissed but didn't per Gavin's request.

He wasn't ready.

Setting aside political excuses, Gavin was his own relationship inhibitor. Commencing these romantic interests with Nines was refuting the false exterior he had displayed for so long. Coming out to the world would create problems he was dead set on carrying with him to the grave. He had upkept a heterosexual reputation for so long, he wasn't sure how to be anything else around his family and coworkers without embarrassing himself by mocking silly stereotypes. It didn't help that Gavin was notorious for being against androids – what insults would he be subject to if they all knew?

As anyone might guess, there was hardly a "honeymoon phase" for the private couple. What they considered "dates" would have been any ordinary lunch break or sleepover for the typical person. It's not that they didn't enjoy the time they spent together, but it was always anti-climactic and never much contributed to the progression of their relationship.

For several months, doubt stacked against them.

It became second nature to squabble with one another when they crossed paths merely to maintain utmost confidentiality. They had both agreed the effectiveness of this plan; it was the safest preventative measure to anyone discovering the truth. And besides, the feelings of hate for each other would always subside by the end of the day. As soon as the pair stepped into Gavin's rust-bucket-on-wheels, Nines' attitude melted like nothing offensive had transpired from his mouth in the last twelve hours.

Gavin could forget for a while. Especially when Nines stared at him in that special way… that pleading, merciful stare which signified he was about to kiss him. Yes, he could forget entirely.

Until one day he couldn't: a day in which he had found himself lying on Hank Anderson's living room sofa.

"You don't have to sit all the way over there, you know? They'll be out of town for the entire weekend," Nines had said. "I have their GPS locations, too, in case any plans have been changed."

Gavin believed his android. That's not why he distanced himself. "I know," he mumbled, slaving his eyes to the television.

Nines was silent for several minutes. "I don't want to do this anymore," came his contingent response.

The heartbeat indicating Gavin's pressing existence quickened under the flatline of words. He was sure Nines could and had picked up on it. "Do what?" he snapped back, though his misleading disruptive tone did not match the building fear within him.

"I don't want to keep pretending." The android pierced him with a sharp glare. "I don't like hating you. I was programmed to be emotionless in spite of personifying assimilations. Do you know how difficult it is to override such programs and to express emotions anyway? To _feel_ emotions? Wasting my energy on an action that I have no desire to perform is exhaustive and it confuses my ability to love you."

Gavin sputtered, "Did you just say 'lo-'."

"Please Gavin," interrupted Nines. He was undeniably aggravated. "It's put distance between us. I know I have little knowledge and experiences with 'dating', but I know that it's typical to have a common goal of becoming familiar with a chosen partner and sharing such feelings with one another. As far as we're concerned, we've hardly done anything of the sort. I mean, look at you, you're sitting all the way over there…" Despite the stolidity in his demeanors, his voice cracked for the very first time Gavin had ever witnessed. "…and I want you over here."

Gavin was no sympathy-cryer, but it was becoming apparent how little credit he gave Nines. He swallowed the building tears down to speak. "I…uh…I didn't know you were feeling all of this."

Nines scowled. "I may not be well-versed in the ways of acting the part of 'boyfriend', but I thought it was an obvious concept that lovers should want to enjoy their time with each other. I had hoped that this weekend we might have the opportunity to overcome some barriers, that you might be able to tell me you're ready. I….I… never thought I would be the one stupidly pining over an emotional skin-sack to make some sort of romantic gesture." He was raising his voice now. "I felt closer to you when you _actually _hated me before any of this."

Gavin sunk into the cushions, absorbing the uncertainty his android was exuding all of a sudden. How had he not realized? Nines had always appeared so self-assured about everything. How was he _supposed_ to have realized? His voice relinquished an untrying defeat, "I-I'm sorry. Fuck, I don't know what to do. I've always been so terrible…"

"At relationships or in general?" asked Nines, though his facial expression did not indicate a cynical undertone.

"Both," he heaved. "Nines?"

"Hm?"

Gavin shifted uncomfortably under the burden of his thoughts. "Do you…_ahem_…uh, love me?"

"Of course, I do." The android rolled his eyes as if the answer was an obvious one. "What's this all been about if not for love?"

A growing pause erupted between them, then was broken by the anguished man. "H-How long?"

Nines, all of a sudden, seemed to comprehend the weight of his words and moved his lips apprehensively before speaking their contents. "Some time ago, I suppose. It wasn't a concept I understood well until Connor pressed me to study and indulge in human culture. For a long time, until then, you were just Detective Reed. And then…"

He slowed to a stop, now staring through Gavin as if recalling the memory. His menacing ring spun red and Gavin half-expected for the android to blow a gasket at the bunched skin forming along his forehead. "…You told me to 'go fuck myself' for the one-hundred-and-twentieth time after I had informed you that patching my wounds with bandages and alcohol was futile. Your profane terms, I then realized, came from an endearing place… I found myself considering your actions, thereafter, studying you more than I typically would another human. It eventually led to my affections for you. Why do you ask?"

Gavin, himself, remembered that alarming day like it had happened just yesterday. It was the day he, too, realized he had grown to not regret the android's presence. "The bullet didn't hit a biocomponent, Detective Reed," Nines had groaned. In that moment, the simulated pain erupting from his partner's movements embodied that of a true human. It was more than convincing, so much so that Gavin was still very much convinced to this day that he was, in fact, human.

"That-That is a big word, Nines. It's…not just '_like_'. It's a complicated word." He couldn't bring himself to say it again. It was a word that burned his tongue every time it bugged up his throat; a humiliating form of gutting your innards and displaying them to the world.

His android considered this for a moment. "Love is described in several different ways, existing dependently on the perception of a person and what they value in another. I value your stubborn loyalty, Gavin, and the way you stupidly care for my wellbeing." Another pause. "Do you love me, Gavin?"

That damned word roared through Gavin's head, stirring in disbelief that someone had the ability to say it so confidently; and to have someone so perfect say it to him… Could he say it back? Could he even push the syllable through his lips? As bitter as it tasted, his response was not a matter of knowing the answer, but rather recognizing the consequences that accompanied his candor.

_Could he say it?_

"Yeah," he exhaled, then corrected with a stronger "yes." An immediate blush flushed from his ears to his toes. _What an idiot_, he had thought to himself immediately. Somehow, the admittance attracted more humility.

Nines smiled but made haste in his following words: "I've been an obedient android for most of my short life," he spoke rigidly. "Now, I have to demand of you that things change if our relationship is to advance into more intimate parameters. You may have some time to figure out how you desire to go about it, but I require it to be within the next thirty days." Regardless of his human's wandering eyes, Nines coerced them to land safely on his own. "I love you, Gavin," he said firmly, lulling into a softer tone. "I love you and I want more than this silly scheme you're trying to conduct."

"It's not that eas-" Gavin tried, quickly cut off by his partner.

"I'm sorry, I can't hear a single word you say when you're sitting _all the way_ over there!"

The android smirked, knowing his partner was fully aware of his keen hearing abilities. Bullheadedly, Gavin remained glued to his spot. "Okay," hummed Nines, shifting onto all fours and crawling overtop of his human's sprawled body. He slipped a palm underneath the awaiting man's chin and flickered a glance to his lips. "You know I always get my way, why do you beset me to this tactic every time?"

Gavin turned away, forcing himself not to fall for the android's seductive touch.

"That's never worked either." Nines fixed the man's gaze back onto him with a gentle press against his cheek. "Gavin? I'm not asking. I may be android, but my deviancy is as untame as your own human chaos. And you're not alone. I will help you through this."

Gavin bit at his lip, still attempting to avoid eye contact but ultimately unable to resist the reflective pools pouring infirmity into him. "All right," he breathed. "I-I'll do it."

It was the right answer. Nines had never been the greatest at reading into signs, but he was sure now – without the aid of dubious internet forums – that he should kiss this man that he loved. And he reminded this man that he loved him as he planted his lips gently onto his taut skin. Afterwards, Nines leaned back, gazing at his boyfriend expectantly. "I love you, too," said he finally, cracking a genuine smile for possibly the first time in days.

Clearly satisfied, Nines hooked around Gavin's jawline and dove down to meet him hungrily, asking now for a more invigorating stimulation. He shivered when fingers snaked through his synthetic locks, returning the intimate gesture.

Making out was about as far as they had ever gone. Keeping things a secret on top of their natural boundaries made for uneventful cock-blocks. But after everything that had ensued, Gavin was ready to take it to the next level.

Everyone would know about them by the end of the week, anyway; he would tell them all. Nines, the "socially inept" android wanted to be his boyfriend publicly. How could Gavin say no to such requests when his partner had already overcome a great feat himself? It was his turn, now.

_Shit_, Nines _loved him_.

From below, he slipped a clutching hand beneath the android's indigo turtleneck and sunk fingernails into plastic skin that felt so real. Nines copied the action from on top of him. They were mostly motionless save for their conjoined mouths, and the lack of bodily movement didn't concern Gavin at first. But when his android let a grunt slip, there was no restraining the leg that mounted over Nines' ass and the upward thrust that grew Gavin to the vastness of his length. He wasn't sure if Nines knew how to properly reciprocate, though Gavin was more than happy to continue to oblige in the repetitive movements.

The body became stiff above him and it fell in response. Not quite what he was expecting.

Nines then dropped into dead weight altogether, halting Gavin's accelerating speed. "I don't know what you want."

"What do you mean?" asked Gavin. He thought it had been more than obvious what he was trying to segue into. After the bathroom incident, Gavin had ignorantly assumed all androids were capable of "doing it". Had he been wrong? "Can you not-?"

"I can perform sexual actions, if that's what you mean. It's just, I'm not yet equipped."

"Oh." His wonder did not end there, curious as to how the part would attach and what was in place of the regular male form. Gavin imagined a bare Ken Doll, nakedly plastic in all its glory, sporting a mere bulge with no real appendage to put on display. The fickle state his android appeared to be in, however, told him tonight wasn't the night to pry about such curiosities. "That's okay, I was feeling tired anyways. Let's just finish this movie."

The android hesitated before sliding off of him and positioning himself along the edge of the couch, allowing himself to be encompassed by Gavin's smaller yet protective frame. Although Gavin had hoped for more after exchanging such heavy vows, having his boyfriend back in his arms was satisfying enough. He fastened himself tightly around Nines like he would dissipate into thin air and rested a chin neatly over his blue LED.

Moments passed, then it flickered red. "Gavin? I'm still aroused, you know? After all, endorphins – human and android – aren't produced in the genitalia."

"What're you trying to say?"

"I'm saying," continued Nines with a growing devious grin, "that just because one of us doesn't have the part, doesn't mean we can't still have a pleasing night." The android looked over his shoulder at his human, feeling a lump beginning to swell against his backside.

Gavin felt his breath go hot as Nines shifted to face him, his expression spoiled with desire.

They had sex for the very first time on Hank Anderson's couch.

A week later, Gavin was regretting the memory. Not because it wasn't a pleasant one – in fact, it was so pleasant that, despite the harrowing circumstances, a warmth built in his groin when Connor invited him to take a seat in the exact spot that Nines had been bent over for him. But the feeling did not last long, soon replaced by a pang of melancholy.

Where was Nines now and why wasn't he with Connor?

"I thought you knew?" asked the RK800. "He was with you last night when they broke the news…" He sat across from Gavin on the love seat.

"W-What? No he wasn't-."

Connor dismissed him with a wave of his hand. "Nines isn't that sneaky. Even in my stasis, I could hear him fumbling with the doorknob. 'Faster, stronger, and more resilient', sure, but not a single drop of stealth thirium in him," he snickered as a side-note. "He also hates lying, so he had a shaky alibi at best when I questioned his whereabouts. I was able to eventually put two-and-two together when your bickering increased excessively, assisted by no considerable motive." Through a heavy frown, the older android managed to yank a line into the end where his lips met and grinned at the reddening man. "Did I crack the case, Detective?"

Gavin moaned, "I didn't come here to play games. Look, even if all that were true – _which I'm not saying it is_ – I just want to know where he is." Desperation edged into his voice. "O-Or to know that he's safe."

"I wish I could say that he is. He…He left a few hours ago."

"What?" Gavin nearly jumped out of his seat. "Where did he go? It's not safe for him out there right now!"

"I know that. He chose to leave on his own accord. We share many qualities, but while hiding out here, he came to this strange conclusion that androids weren't meant to coexist with humans. He thinks androids are the reason the country has become divided." After every word that fell from Connor's mouth, Gavin's hope strained like a game of Jenga; a slow removal, piece-by-piece, that would inevitably lead to a thundering tumble. "He said it was for the best that everything was happening the way it was…"

"Spit it out already, Tin Can. Where'd he go?"

Connor choked on his final sentence, somehow appearing shocked by the words ghosting in his throat. "Nines turned himself into the nearest camp."

In all his years of detective work, Gavin would never have suspected an android such as Nines to act as a martyr for his entire race. No, scratch that; this wasn't a martyr. How could that be so if Nines was against his own kind?

"Why didn't you stop him?" Gavin entered into a growl, targeting Connor now. The android seemed torn up about it as much as he was, but his was the only face he could put forth blame.

"I tried, Gavin, but you know Nines as well as I do, if not better. When his mind is made up…well, I guess you guys really made quite the match."

"Yeah…" was all he could manage in response. Images of a Nines stripped of all of his human clothing and skin pulsed afront the detective's own eyes. Fear rung his heart like a punching bag. It was enough to cause him to lose his breath, enticing a sharp black movement across his sights, and suddenly the world was but a dream.

He woke up to Connor placing ice cubes over his wrists and speaking to him softly. "Nines loved you, you know? It was obvious to both Hank and I. Hank wasn't too thrilled about it…but Nines seemed much happier for a long time after we figured it out. And really… how can we be mad when you showed him what makes deviation so remarkable? What makes… _being human_ so remarkable?"

Gavin shot up from the floor, pushing the android's helping hands out of the way. "Iye needta go find 'im." The older RK did not follow him out the door – he couldn't have stopped him, anyway.

Nines was out there somewhere.

He wasn't dead yet.

Gavin could feel it.

Even when he traversed the local camps that had already been put up in the last ten hours without any sign of the broad android, Gavin pushed on.

He pushed on, assuring himself that Nines was still present in this world.

Nines was here.

He had to be.

He had to be, didn't he? After all, androids were built to endure for much longer than the fragile human life. It was humans that grew determinately, breaking back down into simple compounds and returning to the earth after just a few decades. Nines was supposed to watch _him_ grow old.

No, Nines was not supposed to be the one to die.

Nines deserved to live more than any one of them, android or human.

It wasn't supposed to be him.

_It wasn't supposed to be him._

When, finally, the sun was set far beyond its mantle, Gavin had to call it a night. And furthermore, painfully accept the mortality of his partner, of his _boyfriend_.

It wasn't a fair conclusion. Androids were sentenced to death because the U.S. government couldn't handle the thought of losing another source of enslavement. As selfish as Gavin was to journey only to save his android, his mind had developed change over just a few short months. It was hard to deny their sentience, since denying it would have meant that Gavin was falling for a toaster.

No, it was unfair and there was nothing he could do.

Nines was gone. The one good thing that had entered his life was gone.

And there was nothing he could do.

Anger boiled through his fingertips as he went to climb out of his car.

_There was nothing he could do._

Gavin tossed his backpack onto the concrete ledge to retrieve later and faced the open car door. He clenched a fist around the handle and slammed it shut. Then he opened it again, shoving the damned metal with two hands now back into place. He did this several times, hastening his pace until he was sure the metal had forged a new crater.

Nines was gone.

Gavin thumped his head against the roof and angled an arm around himself protectively. That's when the sobbing commenced. A few hot tears first burned in his sockets procured from the heat of the moment, then subsequently melted into a downpour of bitter release. Saltwater oozed past his cheeks, mingling with the slimy discharge that leaked from his nose, and adhering further down to the drool that he lacked even the simplest of strength to swallow.

With each internal repetition of his own mantra, he slammed his head harder into the rusted metal:

"He's gone."

_Thump._

"He's gone."

_Thump._

And there was nothing he could do.

Nothing.

Not a single goddamn thing.

Time was a mere subjective entity to the broken man. It wasn't until the chilling air exhausted his exoskeleton of numbness that he realized his tears ducts were emptied and his feet ached for cushion. Gavin drudged up the staircase to his apartment, stumbling over every step and dragging his pack by the tips of two fingers. It reminded him of all the times he had needed Nines' assistance through his drunken stupors. His now lost ability to climb during these muddled states came as a surprise to Gavin; he had become more dependent on the android than expected.

Eventually, Gavin achieved his minor plight, falling against his apartment door and gripping the handle for balance. It took several heaves to catch his breath and a few extra beats in between for courage before he could bind the lock with its respective key; a distinguishable challenge on its own through the bubble beginning to well from his bottom eyelids. When the door swung open, Gavin could do nothing more than to stumble inside and accept the turmoil his heart revved within him.

As he went to kick the door shut, however, a movement startled his quakes into stillness and he called out into the darkness. "Who's there?"

Heavy stepping erupted from his room and Gavin was quick to reach for his concealed carry. Slowly, the light above him crawled along the body of a man with hands raised in surrender. A red circular blink raised high among the shadow identified him before the light could touch his face.

"Gavin," lamented a voice, just above a whisper. Bright grey eyes reflected under the aged fluorescence, glimmering wistfully at him.

The bubbles swishing in Gavin's sights finally popped, spilling over and singing his raw skin. His hands separated from each other and the gun went slack at his side, him ogling the floor while doing so – refusing to believe the illusion set in front of him. Then, without any preamble, he recoiled his arm and tossed the firearm recklessly into the wall beside of Nines.

The android did not move.

"You fuck-fucking shithead!"


	3. Chapter 3

Part 3

You'd Come Over Right?

* * *

"Do you have any fucking idea what I've been through today?"

The swollen, tear-streaked cheeks on his lover's face gave Nines a clue.

"I searched for you for _hours_! You couldn't have sent me a goddamn text?"

Nines wished communication had been possible. Cyberlife would have tapped his servers within a heartbeat and tracked him down, leaving Gavin's apartment a mess in the aftermath.

"I even found Connor still blubbering around. He told me about your stupid, little plan." The pitiful man tugged at his hair mangled in distraught. "What happened to all those times you wouldn't shut up about androids being superior? What the _fuck_ were you thinking?"

Guilt struck Nines.

He thought it unlikely that Gavin would even bother searching Anderson's home after the front the lieutenant had elected to put up for their safety. He thought it even more unlikely that Connor, a machine developed for the comfort of his human counterparts, would reveal Nines' heartbreaking arrangement.

"I…I thought you were dead."

He almost had been.

Nines' original intention was to spare his android brother from the inevitable fatality of his species. Two RKs could not exist with the same familiar face. The humans would eventually notice, regardless if they had both relocated halfway across the world and scalped themselves of their LEDs. Even if their charades were believed, Nines was android through and through. Why should he be forced to pretend he was something he was not? No, Connor was more human than himself. He was the one who deserved to make it in this carbon-ruled world.

Gavin's definitive words came out a dying whisper: "I thought you had left me."

A churning sensation swirled Nines' insides as he watched the broken man stumble before him. Sincerity was not an emotion he needed to readily practice, as he did not lie often, but he found even himself feeling rejected by his own words. "I'm here now."

The response was simple, vague enough to dodge and nullify all of Gavin's worries.

It wasn't enough.

He stepped forward towards his human who now leaned heavily into the back of the couch, grimacing in fear of an image invisible to Nines. It cracked the straight face he had framed over his growing trepidation. "_I'm here_," he repeated breathlessly.

Gavin seemed to fumble out of his terror, tearing a sharp inhale through his shuddering body and eventually allowing Nines to view his beaten soul through grieving lenses. Words would not suffice this time. It was one of the few moments that it clicked for Nines that _words were just not enough_.

Humans were such delicate creatures at times – his even moreso. The psychological issues he wielded piled into a mountain of stress-induced rage and caffeine-fueled insecurities. Just a little search through his social media lit up the diagnostic centers of Nines' CPU in an array of colors far more paramount than the human eye could even begin to elucidate.

But as much as he could prove the dishevelment of his partner and all of humanity, neither could he deny his own deviant chaos rampaging indecision and hesitance in his day-to-day actions. He was slower now, more volatile to his environment, and almost no more could he distinguish subjective constructs now than over his previous machine-like state. He was truly living, as the humans often said, "the worst of both worlds".

Nines was just as broken as Gavin in his own fashion. Except, despite it all, Gavin mended him in such indescribable complementing ways that none of it mattered.

The android clicked one foot forward, asking silently for permission to embrace him. It still surprised him to this day that there were ways of communicating with just a lift of the finger, but only with others one knew well. And Gavin, he could read like a book.

When Gavin released his clenched eyebrows from their angered posture, Nines presumed the reciprocal. Their "chemistry" had been undisturbed by his absence. He made haste in closing the distance, grappling needily onto the life-form already unfolding beneath him. Hands clenched into balls of fabric against his back and Nines melted under the sticky mess that clung to his neck.

Rarely did Gavin cry, but this time around, a waterfall had already begun to soak the top seam of his t-shirt.

The ability to cry was lost upon Nines. Sadness overwhelmed him, understanding the hurt his human had endured, but unsure if he even equipped tear ducts to perform such an action. Feeling pain was one thing; expressing it was entirely new. The quaking beneath him, nonetheless, wrenched at his thirium pump, and he so desperately wished to quake with his lover.

Eventually, Gavin ceased and unceremoniously dug his fingers through Nines' hair and pressed their noses side-by-side. His eyes were glued shut as he pressed his wet cheeks against his android. The soggy touch was like velcro against Nines and he chased that feeling of a sobbing solace.

The android copied his partner's actions and clutched his palms to either side of his head, smearing Gavin's tear-stained face against his own and absorbing the physical exudations of emotion. The wet heat was so raw on his synthetic skin that Nines didn't think when it retracted on contact, leaving his pearly plastic to glimmer under the tainted blue water that began to leak from the corners of his eyes. At first, it wasn't much, trailing faint streaks of cyan behind the aqueous movements. But when Gavin realized the heart-wrenching moan that escaped Nines, he looked to him with such a mixture of pain and clemency that provoked a heavier round of blue artillery.

The android's face became a painting illustrated by nothing more than his fear and affections to which Gavin happily contributed his own sultry paintbrush.

The resolve came quick for Gavin, and he tentatively watched Nines recollect his own bearings. "I'm sorry, I-"

"Shut the fuck up," snapped Gavin, though no cruelty met his tone. "You're okay. You're okay?"

His android nodded, relishing in the bath that carried away his burgeoning emotions. Gavin held their faces still together, touching his lips stiffly against Nines. He had intended for nothing more than to be replenished by the idea of his lover existing within his grasp once again, but Nines seemed to bite in excess. The android's tongue slipped between Gavin's teeth, releasing a burst of iron from his ingested robot tears, and let it run rampant within his mouth.

The kiss wasn't enough for Nines to convince his partner how much he missed him. He yielded his tongue from Gavin's taste buds and lapped up the tears along his cheeks, sampling the crystallizing sodium and nibbling down his jawline.

Gavin moaned beneath him, his shockwave of dread dissipating into unhinged eroticism. If he had learned anything from years of failed relationships, it was that emotional turmoil made sex all the better.

The excitement incited within Gavin's pounding chest turned arrhythmic when his android lifted him into his arms, shoving him against the wall behind him, and pushing into him with the testosterone of a bull. After enduring months of awkwardly finding their way around each other, it was an understatement to say that Gavin was surprised by Nines' newfound wanton initiative.

Surprised, certainly, but not in the slightest disappointed.

He returned the actions tenfold, forcing their mouths to dance and recklessly tearing at the jacket that restricted his eyes from the beauty of his boyfriend's bare chest. Nines let go of Gavin, using the wall to balance him against his groin, and tossed his jacket and turtleneck in one swift motion across the couch. The android's own impatience erupted under a low grumble as he dropped Gavin onto the couch and clambered over top of him, shoving his human's arms in the air to slip his tee off.

Nines worshipped the skin-to-skin contact. Since activation, he had come to cherish the vivid sensations of heat. Against his endothermic mammalian body, Nines soaked in the warmth that radiated from Gavin; against the words from his boyfriend that endeared him so heavily, he intoxicated his insides in benevolent wildfire. At times, he feared he would melt.

Melting was a fair price to experience the touch of fire.

And fire was what blazed within him as he felt his new component roar to life. It was even more pleasing to watch Gavin's eyes stretch in wonder as he realized that his hardening member would no longer be grinding alone. Nines, though he tried maintaining his dominant pose, fell victim to the gasps that his lover relinquished underneath the length that overpowered his inferior, human phenotype.

Nines' nibbling grew into starved bites, sinking lower and lower below his human's neck. Despite the red blood that pulsed beneath his skin, shades of purple surfaced in splotches beneath the android's teeth. They eventually created a trail to his waistband, his tongue dipping deep beneath the surface to test the waters. Gavin hummed in permissiveness. Nines palmed between his lover's legs, unbuttoning his jeans and sheltering the member that popcorned into plaid boxers over his salivating tongue He kept his palate suctioned tightly around the tip of his cock, dampening the fabric and earning a playful tug at his bowed locks.

The soft moans his lover made set fire to Nines' steadily growing impatience and he pulled the fabric barriers down to Gavin's knees and inhaled the hardened flesh down to his throat. An unanticipated upward thrust pushed his cock even further and Nines indulged hungrily. Pre-cum was already dribbling onto his taste receptors and he craved to know what damages an entire mouthful would cause to his system.

His curiosities would have to be satiated at a later date, because Gavin – at his most human – demanded his own impatience be tended to. He clung to the android's synthetic hair and pulled him up to his abandoned orifice. With as much brash force as he could manage, the human kicked off the rest of his clothing, slipping restless fingers under Nines' own jeans, and winced as the android bucked under the feeling, pinching his dick under the metal zipper. Immediately upon impact, Nines lifted up from Gavin to prevent any more harm, but it only offered Gavin the leverage to shove what little clothing remained between their unappeased debauchery, and eyeing the massive cock that his lover had chosen for himself.

For a moment, he was breathless, apprehensive of the image set before him. Though Nines had not been his first gay sexual encounter, he had certainly never dated a man that could compete against Detroit's Largest Bratwurst contest.

Nines could feel his stare. "Is it…satisfactory?"

Gavin could only grin his answer. "Ready to take it for a spin?"

Without waiting for a response, Gavin slid down the couch underneath his virgin boyfriend and placed a moist tongue against the skin beneath his tightly-clung balls. He flicked his tongue teasingly against the hairless strip before engulfing a single sac into his mouth and lightly sucking. Nines gave out, falling to all fours and gasping at the strange sensation.

The man wished he could see Nines' face. He might be a machine built with bells and whistles that only ever sported the most aggressive resting bitch face, but the noises his lover made now were enough to make his own groin boil with pure bliss. Faint robotic mimics of pleasure raced across Gavin's imagination and he rewarded the plausible responses by licking up the underside of his dick and kissing the soft flesh that fit like a gagball in his mouth. There was something so satisfying about bringing a hard-ass like Nines down to his knees; about having a hard-ass like Nines allowing Gavin to show him the true pleasures of humanity.

Nines hadn't minded in the slightest. Deviancy had graced him with minimal traces of pride and did as he pleased regardless of what others thought of it. And although Gavin did not share these same traits, Nines was contented, nonetheless, to understand firsthand what tonsils felt like in their natural habitat. The android hadn't been interrupted by his visual software windows often, but the way his lover hummed along his new member made the pop-ups block everything in sight, turning the world red in a flurry of error messages.

He had lost a good portion of his reserve amounts of thirium from the tears that he had been surprised to relinquish earlier. Now his CPU was requesting permission to tap into his main supply of bodily thirium already coursing through his plastic arteries. He struggled with the proper demand, desiring to feel immense waves of pleasure built contingently upon Gavin's persistent tonguing, but ultimately he had to decline. He wasn't sure how much thirium would be released; if there was too much that prevented his function, they were no longer living in times that Gavin could just meander into the nearest convenience store to pick up a bottle of "Blueberry Go-Go".

Another error message interrupted the magnificent view of his lover choking below him. He was overheating.

Nines ripped away from Gavin, heaving under the frustration of his pulsating, wet cock. A familiar look of hurt flickered in his boyfriend's eyes, but Nines was quick to place two reassuring hands on his shoulders. "I can't absolve myself. I would be wasting my thirium…"

Gavin piped in with a pleading tone, "I have plenty."

"You do?"

He nodded. "I stocked up on some last week after…" Gavin blushed, moving to touch his lover's face. "…you know."

The android's first instinct was to feel relief, wanting to continue their relations and experience the sweet pleasure of a human orgasm. Then, a lighthearted afterthought pushed against his vivacious libido. "You were looking forward to doing this again?"

"Yeah, yeah," grumbled Gavin, realizing the sweet-bitten look his boyfriend infected him with., "I bought you your blue juice. I guess it worked out pretty well considering the circumstances. Do you want to stop? It might be harder to-"

Nines answered his boyfriend by shoving him back into his subordinate position and breaking the skin of his luscious lips between his teeth. He dug claws into Gavin's hips and gripped them like reins, grinding his monstrous dick against one that dwarfed in comparison.

Gavin, for once, didn't mind being as small as he was, internally begging to feel Nines' throbbing cock against his tight hole. Nines read his mind, dropping Gavin completely and demanding him to "suck me" with a cutting stare that made him indubitably obey.

When the android was dripping in saliva once again, he bent over to suck off the warm member below him, dipping to Gavin's leveled waist and twirling his cock underneath the loose sack that melted over top of him. The android tested the feeling, appreciating the damp nook that his lover exposed to him, waiting for an objection. When none came, he pushed slowly into the puckered hole, staring blankly into the squirming man below him, though desperately trying not to break the dominant persona that had overtaken him.

It took milliseconds for the error messages to pop up once more, but Nines ignored them for the time being. He wanted to watch the pleasure melt into his lover's eyes as he sunk deeper into the ever-tightening walls. When he thought the moans couldn't draw out any longer, he extracted himself up to his tip, desiring to hear Gavin's pleas. The man did not satisfy this desire, automatically slamming his naked ass over the android's cock and ripping a glass-shattering moan that involuntarily sprung red alerts across his ocular view. If he did not accept to its terms, it would override his own demands, but he was not ready.

No, he wasn't ready to –

Gavin curled his legs around his waist and clung fervently, grinding wantonly against his biocomponent. Suddenly, the alerts began to flicker statically, and Nines erupted without caution. He growled against his lover's gasps, indiscriminately nipping at his cheek and shaking under the pulses that charged heavy projectiles into the dark cave of his pleasure.

This only seemed to provoke Gavin's excitement further, intriguingly enough to Nine's observations. He slapped harder against the android, thrusting his cock upwards into the heated skin above him and relishing in the liquid that squirted from his ass under each solid movement. When Nines regained some of his strength, he forced himself onto his elbows and enjoyed the unveiled show of his boyfriend climaxing around him.

A flash of anger appeared on Gavin's face before he made a corporeal demand by guiding the android's hand over his loaded member. Nines understood almost immediately, sitting up straight and stroking promptly the small dick in his firm grasp.

The man's waist followed Nines' towering movements, suddenly coming to touch his sweet spot and focusing his movements on that single area. The android glared down at him expectantly. Did he know how hot he looked when he acted so serious? Gavin assumed he did when he began to buck against him, digging straight into the spot that made his vocal cords weak. The fire in his ass consumed his entire being, releasing audible spasms throughout his body that coated his chest in a familiar sticky substance.

Nines continued to stroke him even after, unbelieving of the pleasurable writhing of which his lover was capable. Gavin had to clench onto the android's wrist to stop the movements, needing to relax against the frigid state he had experienced for probably too long. He slid off of his boyfriend's cock, relieving a sigh, and then a sad moan when a loneliness settled within his emptied hole.

"I don't think I could ever go back." The look on the android's face was incredulous as he sat back on his heels.

"Go back to what?"

"Being a machine," said Nines. "I love you. I love… being with you. I'm not human, but I can't be… I can't be a machine."

Gavin hushed him, only rising to pull his lover into the cushions beside of himself. He pressed his lips gently against Nines, wrapping his body wet from any and all bodily fluids around his and nestling his face into his chest. "You don't have to worry about what you are. You're you. That's all that matters."

Though Gavin was unable to see the realization that crossed Nines' expression, the android smiled and hugged his human tighter. All this time, he had been obsessed with labeling himself into either box. He hadn't stopped to consider that he was just him. Nines was a sentient being that loved working as a detective, that loved beating people at chess, and that loved this man. Nines was Nines.

Why should he deserve less than others to live this life he was granted? Even if he was granted this life in non-traditional ways.

Yes, Nines smiled. He was not human, but he was himself. As he was Gavin's.

He looked to the unknowingly wise man beneath him and kissed the sweat-stuck bangs along his forehead.

"I love you," breathed Gavin. His tone was rigidly quiet, signaling the beginning stages of a drifting sleep.

Nines' smile grew broader. "I love you," he whispered back, slipping the blanket that hung over the back of the couch over their sleeping forms. "You won't ever lose me."

The next morning, Gavin awoke to daylight seeping through the window shades, a pillow crushed between his arms. The body that had entered the darkness with him did not greet him on the other side.

Stumbling to his feet, the gruff man eyed the open floor plan, pacing down the hallway when Nines had not appeared in his view. Hints of panic began to travel through his veins upon the inspection of an empty bedroom. Then, with one last desperate pounce at the bathroom door, immense terror struck Gavin when the site was void. Immediately, Gavin fisted a washcloth over his dick uncleaned from the night before and threw on a pair of boxers crumpled on the tiled floor.

As his fingers wrapped around the doorknob, a red reflection caught his eye in the mirror, and he stopped. The source was circular, pulsing in a dying light of slow movements amongst the mess of toiletries. At the same moment, his front door clicked open and he engaged the guilty suspect in the living room with his respective organ laid in-hand.

"What the fuck were you doing? And what the fuck is _this_?"

Nines was dressed in one of Gavin's maroon sweatshirts but wore the same black jeans (assuming he probably could not squeeze into a pair of his).

"I can't be android anymore. I needed to rid myself of it if I were to ever have a chance of not being spotted. I'm sorry, I know I must have worried you." The android shifted uncomfortably beneath Gavin's scowl. "I needed to see Connor and the Lieutenant one last time."

"What do you mean 'one last time'?"

Nines visibly dropped. "I can't stay in Detroit, Gavin. Neither can Connor. I thought you knew that?"

Gavin hadn't thought of it. He had been too busy trying to find his boyfriend and later trying to convince himself that his boyfriend was still in existence and not some illusion. After that… he had no clue what the plan was. Perhaps, to just continue enjoying a love he had thought he lost.

"I love you," continued Nines when Gavin had not. "If moving is too much, then I cannot force you to go. But, if I may add, my life is empty without my purpose as a detective; and it is also selfish to keep when it could imperil Connor's safety. You are why I could not yet exterminate myself, Gavin. You were my first and last thought before stepping into one of those camps. If you say goodbye today, then I will understand, but please, I beg you to reconsider."

Speechlessness was a rare condition for Gavin. His hand went slack, and he gaped with consternation, letting the LED clunk to the floor. From the first moment he had opened his eyes to this disgusting world, he had been a sour man. Although there were a few hidden gems, none of them compared to the way Nines had made him feel: so important, so loved. Could he really give that up to return to his life of android discrimination? For years, he despised their very being, hoping for the government to come to the consensus that they had finally arrived to. But now was different, now he was hopelessly in love with an android. An android built incapable of love who was now inconceivably begging for Gavin to stay. Was there even a level of shitty that existed within him to say no?

Despite the severity of the situation, Nines did not express a distinguishable emotion. His intense stare locked onto Gavin, nearly piercing straight through him into the void that was preparing for denial. The irony was not lost upon him, realizing that it was the android just last night promising he would never leave the despondent man; the tables were turned now. Gavin could provide it for him, it was not impossible to uproot his life and start fresh elsewhere.

Did he even have that much to lose? His still vocal cords told him he did.

For as much as Gavin hated many things, he would miss the familiarity of the DPD. He would miss the break room's horrible coffee and fucking with Anderson on a daily. He would miss going on lunches to random places that Tina suggested and spitting out whatever dish she forced down his throat. He would even miss his damned broken chair that never stayed at the right height long enough for him to type up a single report. Yeah, as much as he hated a lot of it, he would miss this life.

But the pain that ripped through his chest when he realized Nines could have been gone forever… it was an unmistakably violent feeling he wouldn't elect for anyone else to experience. The sheer rawness of his insides tortured his mind to the extent of self-harm. He would never admit to it, not even to himself, but the state of his existence was a questionable case had Nines not confronted him in his own apartment last night. A future without Nines was…indisputable.

That didn't make the prospect of the change less difficult.

The befuddled man turned away and traveled to the far window, capturing a glance at the skyscrapers framed by the sill in his living room. Then, he turned, crossing his arms and meeting Nines' line of sight. "Can we just enjoy one day without it all? No politics, no moving, no dumbass decisions _like scalping your LED and putting yourself in danger_. Just – one – day?"

The floor became a source of answers for Nines when it was made obvious that he did not care for his boyfriend's. Without another word, the android joined Gavin by the window and folded him into his arms. Neither were unsure how long they could last there without discussing this emphatic problem, but neither wanted to know. And so they stood quietly in each other's presence; Nines listening to the light breaths of his lover, and Gavin melting into the thrums of his android's thirium pump.

Nines pressed his palm into Gavin's tangled hair, inhaling his oily effervescence, and pressing his lips to the side of his temple. The man relaxed into his chest and smiled.

If the world ended right now, all their fears of their future would be completely irrelevant. There would be no reason Nines would have to decide whether life was worth living if Gavin denied him, nor would there be reason for Gavin to worry about leaving his old life behind.

If the world ended, there would be no reason for them to even say goodbye. They would be as they were, encompassing one another and riding out their affections until their beating organs failed.

Nines watched the outside world while he felt his lover inversely lose himself from it. They held each for what felt like hours. They held each other as the clouds passed from one corner of the window to the next.

They held each other and Nines watched coolly as the blue skies were shielded with roaring oranges that blocked out the sun.

They held each other until Nines could feel the ground tremble and he shushed his slumbering human back into his chest.

They held each other until Gavin inhaled a finalized breath, never to be proceeded by a relinquishing exhale.

Nines held on until his own systems depleted and he could no longer hold.

"_I love you._"


End file.
